US11640181B2

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Info

Publication number: US11640181B2
Application number: US17/517,199
Authority: US
Inventors: Jacob ENSIGN; Travis WHITNEY
Original assignee: Pressure Specialist Inc
Current assignee: Ripkey John R
Priority date: 2019-10-30
Filing date: 2021-11-02
Publication date: 2023-05-02
Anticipated expiration: 2040-10-30
Also published as: US11169550B2; US20210132639A1; US20220057817A1

Abstract

An externally adjustable pressure regulator includes a body having a shoulder, a longitudinal axis and a high pressure inlet. The body has an opening along a side. A bonnet has a regulated pressure outlet and is engaged with the body. A piston is positioned in part in the body and the bonnet. The piston has a shoulder, a longitudinal bore and a transverse bore at about the end thereof in flow communication with the longitudinal bore. A spring is disposed on the piston. A wedging element is positioned in the opening in the body side and is in contact with the spring. An adjusting ring engages the wedging element to move it into the spring to increase compression of the spring and off of the spring to decrease compression. Increasing compression of the spring increases a spring force of the spring on the piston and decreasing compression of the spring decreases the spring force on the piston.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION DATA

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/084,897, filed Oct. 30, 2020, titled, EXTERNALLY ADJUSTABLE PRESSURE REGULATOR, which claims the benefit of and priority to Provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 62/927,793, filed Oct. 30, 2019, titled, EXTERNALLY ADJUSTABLE, HIGH PRESSURE REGULATOR, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to an externally adjustable fluid pressure regulator, and more particularly, to an externally adjustable pressure regulator that can be adjusted without disassembly of the regulator.

Pressure regulators are used in many fields, including in air rifles, industrial applications, and the transportation field. Plunger type regulators are a straight-forward and efficient devices to continuously regulate an output or working pressure. Collinear regulators, those in which the inlet and the outlet share a common axis, do not allow for adjusting the output pressure without out discharging the internal pressure, and disassembling the regulator to make the required adjustments.

Accordingly, there is a need for a straight-forward and efficient pressure regulator the permits the output pressure to be adjusted from an external element on the regulator, and without disassembling the regulator to makes such adjustments.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, an externally adjustable pressure regulator, comprising includes a body having a shoulder, a longitudinal axis and a high pressure inlet. The has an opening therein along a side of the regulator.

A bonnet is engaged with the body. The bonnet has a regulated pressure outlet. The body and bonnet can be threadedly engaged with each other.

A piston is positioned at least in part in the body and at least in part in the bonnet. The piston has a shoulder, a longitudinal bore and a transverse bore at about the end thereof. The transverse bore is in flow communication with the longitudinal bore. A spring is disposed on the piston, The spring can be, for example, a coil spring.

A wedging element is positioned in the opening in the body side and is in contact with the spring. In embodiments, the regulator includes multiple wedging elements. In embodiments, the wedging elements are balls.

An adjusting ring engages the wedging elements to move the wedging elements into the spring to increase compression of the spring and to move the wedging elements off of the spring to decrease compression of the spring. The adjusting ring can be configured with an angled surface to cooperate with the wedging elements. In embodiments, the adjusting ring is threadedly engaged with the body.

Increasing compression of the spring increases a spring force of the spring on the piston and decreasing compression of the spring decreases the spring force of the spring on the piston.

In embodiments, the body includes a seat and the piston includes a sealing element engageable with the seat. The piston can includes a shoulder such that the spring is positioned on the piston against the shoulder.

Further understanding of the present disclosure can be obtained by reference to the following detailed description in conjunction with the associated drawings, which are described briefly below.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments of an externally adjustable pressure regulator are disclosed as examples and are not limited by the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references may indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG.1 is across-sectional illustration of an embodiment of an externally adjustable pressure regulator in an open state;

FIG.2 is cross-sectional illustration of the externally adjustable pressure regulator ofFIG.1 shown in a closed state.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the present disclosure is susceptible of embodiments in various forms, there is shown in the drawings and will hereinafter be described a presently preferred embodiment with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification and is not intended to limit the disclosure to the specific embodiment illustrated.

An externallyadjustable pressure regulator10 permits adjusting an output pressure of theregulator10 from an external element on theregulator10, without disassembling theregulator10 to makes such adjustments. As seen in the figures, the regulator can be a linear or collinear device.

Theregulator10 includes abody12, abonnet14, a plunger orpiston16, aspring18, a force manipulator orwedging element20 and an adjustingelement22. In an embodiment thespring18 can be a coil spring as illustrated, spring washers and the like, and the adjustingelement22 can be, for example, an adjusting ring.

Theregulator10 includes a high pressure (or unregulated pressure) inlet24 and a low pressure (or regulated pressure)outlet26. Thebody12 andbonnet14 define

respective bores

28,30 therethrough. Thebody12 andbonnet14 can be threadedly engaged with one another as illustrated at15. Alongitudinal bore32 is formed, in part, in thepiston16. Thepiston16 can include transverse openings orbores34 at about an end thereof that are in flow communication with thepiston bore32.

A sealingelement36 is disposed at about an end of thepiston16 and cooperates with aseat38 in thebody12. Theseat38 can be formed as part of thebody12 or can be an element that is positioned in thebody12. Theseat38 may be removable to, for example replace theseat38. One or both of theseat38 and sealingelement36 can be formed from a resilient material such as a polymeric material. The other of theseat38 and thesealing element36 may be formed from a rigid material, such as a metal. In some embodiments theseat38 is formed as part of thebody12. Anorifice40 is defined by or at theseat38.

Thepiston18 moves within thebody12 between an open state as seen inFIG.1 in which thesealing element36 is spaced from theseat38 and a closed state as seen inFIG.2 in which thesealing element36 is engaged with (or seated on) theseat38. Thespring18, which is positioned in thebody12, between thebody12 and thepiston18, urges theregulator10 to the open state. Thespring18 rests on ashoulder44 of thepiston16.

The force manipulator orwedging elements20 are positioned against ashoulder46 on thebody12 and in contact with thespring18, captured in the regulator by the adjustingring22. Theshoulder46 serves as a fixed surface against which thewedging elements20 act. Referring toFIG.1, as thewedging elements20 are urged inward of or toward thebody12, they contact and urge thespring18 to a compressed state. Conversely as thewedging elements20 are moved outward from thebody12, they allow thespring18 to expand. Movement of thewedging elements20 inward and outward (or into and out of contact with the spring18) can be accomplished by the adjustingelement22, e.g., the illustrated adjusting ring.

In an embodiment, the adjustingring22 includes anangled surface48 having alarger diameter region50 and asmaller diameter region52. As thering22 is moved such that thesmaller diameter region52 engages the wedging elements20 (FIG.1), thering22 urges thewedging elements20 inward to compress thespring18. Conversely, as thering22 is moved such that thelarger diameter region50 engages the wedging elements20 (FIG.2), thering22 allows thewedging elements20 to move outwardly which in turn allows thespring18 to expand.

It will be appreciated that compressing thespring18 increases the spring force and conversely allowing thespring18 to expand reduces the spring force. In addition, as thering22 is moved to urge thewedging elements20 inward to compress thespring18, thespring18 force that is exerted also influences thepiston16, that is, it moves thepiston18 to a further open condition (moves the piston to the left in the figures).

In operation or use, a high pressure or unregulated pressure fluid, such as an unregulated compressed gas such as compressed air source is connected to theinlet24. The gas flows into theinlet24 and through theorifice40 into aregion54 between theorifice40 and thepiston16. It will be appreciated that the width of thepiston16 at the sealingelement36 is smaller than the width of the body bore28 so that the gas can flow around the sealingelement36, into the piston transverse bores34 and into the pistonlongitudinal bore32.

The gas flows through the pistonlongitudinal bore32 and out through the low pressure orregulated pressure outlet26. As the gas pressure at theoutlet26 increases, it induces a force on the piston16 (at the piston backface56 and interior58). When the pressure increases to a level at which the force on the piston16 (created by the gas pressure) overcomes thespring18 force, thepiston16 moves to the right (as seen in the figures) to close the regulator10 (FIG.2). Conversely, when the pressure in the low pressure side (outlet26) decreases, the force on thepiston16 decreases and the spring force urges thepiston16 to the left to open the regulator10 (FIG.1).

Adjustability of theregulator10 is accomplished by moving the adjustingring22 so as to urge the wedgingelements20 inward (to compress the spring18) and increase the outlet pressure, or to move the wedgingelements20 outward to allow thespring18 to expand and decrease the outlet pressure.

It will be appreciated, the adjustingring22 can be a ring that threadedly engages with the body12 (as seen at62) such that rotation of thering22 facilitatesregulator10 adjustment. It will also be appreciated that the wedgingelements22 can take many forms, such as angled wedge surfaces, balls and the like that can be positioned inopenings60 at various circumferential locations around thebody12. It will also be understood that although thebody12 is illustrated as two separate parts in the figures (seeFIG.1

reference numbers

12a,12b), thebody12 is a single part with thebody12 being contiguous other than at those locations (the openings60) at which the wedging elements22 (such as the balls) are positioned in thebody openings60.

In the present disclosure, the words “a” or “an” are to be taken to include both the singular and the plural. Conversely, any reference to plural items shall, where appropriate, include the singular. All patents and published applications referred to herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety, whether or not specifically done so within the text of this disclosure.

It will also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any relative directional terms such as sides, upper, lower, top, bottom, rearward, inboard, forward, outboard and the like may be for explanatory purposes only and may not be intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.

From the foregoing it will be observed that numerous modifications and variations can be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the present disclosure. It is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific embodiments illustrated is intended or should be inferred.

Claims

The invention claimed is:

1. An externally adjustable pressure regulator, comprising:

a body having a longitudinal axis and having a high pressure inlet, the body having an opening therein along a side thereof;

a bonnet engaged with the body, the bonnet having a regulated pressure outlet;

a piston positioned at least in part in the body and at least in part in the bonnet, the piston having a longitudinal bore and a transverse bore in flow communication with the longitudinal bore;

a spring disposed on the piston;

a force manipulating element positioned in the opening in the body side and in contact with the spring; and

an adjusting element engaging the force manipulating element to move the force manipulating element into the spring to increase compression of the spring and to move the force manipulating element off of the spring to decrease compression of the spring,

wherein the force manipulating element is a wedge element.

2. The pressure regulator ofclaim 1, wherein increasing compression of the spring increases a spring force of the spring on the piston and decreasing compression of the spring decreases the spring force of the spring on the piston.

3. The pressure regulator ofclaim 1, wherein the adjusting element is a ring.

4. The pressure regulator ofclaim 1, wherein the body includes a shoulder, and wherein the force manipulating element is positioned between the shoulder and the spring.

5. The pressure regulator ofclaim 1, wherein the wedge element contacts the spring.

6. The pressure regulator ofclaim 1, wherein the piston includes a shoulder and wherein the spring is positioned between the piston shoulder and the force manipulating element.

7. An externally adjustable pressure regulator, comprising:

a bonnet engaged with the body, the bonnet having a regulated pressure outlet;

a spring disposed on the piston;

wherein the force manipulating element is a ball.

8. The pressure regulator ofclaim 7, wherein the adjusting element is a ring.

9. The pressure regulator ofclaim 7, wherein the body includes a shoulder, and wherein the force manipulating element is positioned between the shoulder and the spring.

10. The pressure regulator ofclaim 7, wherein the ball contacts the spring.

11. The pressure regulator ofclaim 7, wherein the piston includes a shoulder and wherein the spring is positioned between the piston shoulder and the force manipulating element.

12. The pressure regulator ofclaim 7, wherein increasing compression of the spring increases a spring force of the spring on the piston and decreasing compression of the spring decreases the spring force of the spring on the piston.